Spring has come! We tend to get drowsy, especially in the spring. It's good to consume enough vitamins to fight against this spring fever. The best thing to do for this is to eat seasonal food, spring greens in this case, as they are buds appearing from the frozen soil immediately after the winter.

Seasoned acorn jelly is an unmissable menu item, especially during this time of year.

It's made from boiled and cooled acorn starch. It can be a wonderful snack when the jelly is mixed with vegetables and seasoning.

The jelly is soft, yet slightly bitter. When it's mixed with crispy seasonal greens, the crunchy vegetables make it really delicious. It's also a great food if you're on a diet, as it's low in calories.

According to the "Dongui Bogam" (동의보감, 東醫寶鑑), the best-known Joseon-era medical book, acorn helps treat diarrhea and dysentery, and protects the stomach and intestine.

** Ingredients

1 cake (300 g) acorn jelly

⅓ ea (70 g) cucumber

30 g carrot

30 g crown daisy

1 ea (15 g) green pepper

½ ea (10 g) red pepper

Seasoning sauce:

1⅓ tbsp (24 g) soy sauce

½ tsp (2 g) sugar

½ tsp (1.1 g) ground red pepper

1 tsp (4.5 g) minced green onion

½ tsp (2.7 g) minced garlic

1 tsp (2 g) sesame seeds

1 tbsp (13 g) sesame oil

** Preparation

Cut and slice the acorn jelly into cubes that are 3 cm wide, 4 cm long and 1 cm thick.

Wash the cucumbers by rubbing them with salt. Cut them into slices that are 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Diagonally slice them at intervals of 0.3 cm. Cut and slice the carrots into similar sized pieces.

Cut the green and red peppers into lengths that are 2 cm long and 0.5 cm thick, and seed them.